News digest 20 October 2011
The digest starts with some rough justice
delivered to the travelling community at Dale Farm while the
justice secretary sneaks out legal changes that could see justice
silenced. Fox blames the media for his downfall, Cameron changes
the date of the EU vote while Cable admits the economy is worse
than under Labour. Public sector job cuts are accelerating, but the
private sector is cutting back too. Argos slumps as low income
families are squeezed on finances and heating bills while clean
coal plant is scrapped. BAA will sell Edinburgh airport, BAE rejigs
its divisions and there’ll be less orders for EADS…
Travellers and tasers – A
multimillion pound eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex
yesterday descended into violence as the supposed ‘peaceful
eviction’ suddenly saw 200 riot police turn up and fire tasers as
100 bailiffs swept into the site. Clashes between police and
protesters continued last night although police said they had
secured the area ready for the bulldozers to start to move in
(Mirror p6-7, Sun p10-11, Express p5, Mail p6-9, Times p6-7, Indie p4-5, Guardian p6-7, Telegraph p14-15, Morning Star p1).
Closed justice? – The
Indie (p1) and Guardian (p11) reports that
Britain’s long history of wanting to have your day in court may be
at risk after justice secretary Ken Clarke introduced new proposals
which could see civil courts, immigration panels and even coroner’s
inquests going into secret session if the government decides the
information is a threat to national security.
Ignore justice – And the
Times (p1) reports that
the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said there is an arguable case
that judges must take account of decisions made by the European
Court of Human Rights, but that they are not bound by them, are we
soon to lose our rights?
Fox fuming – And in his
resignation speech former defence secretary blamed the press and
the media frenzy for his downfall rather than his own actions, but
was delivered a fresh blow as parliament’s sleaze watchdog launched
a probe into whether he abused Commons expenses (Mirror p4, Sun p2, Express p2, Mail p20, Times p17, Indie p8-9, Guardian p1, Telegraph p12, FT p2, Morning Star p3).
Cameron’s change – And prime
minister David Cameron also forced a change to the Commons vote on
an EU referendum shifting it forward to Monday so he can be in the
chamber to intimidate rebel MPs, although the way his month has
been going that’s just likely to fire up the eurosceptic wing more
(Mirror p11, Sun p2, Express p7, Mail p14, Indie p9, Guardian p14, Telegraph p1, Morning Star p3).
Euro under pressure – And a
number of papers follow up on the latest developments aimed at
resolving the eurozone debt crisis. French president Nicolas
Sarkozy missed the birth of his baby daughter to try and save
France’s credit rating flying to Berlin to put pressure on German
chancellor Angela Merkel, but the eurozone economy is still looking
shaky (Indie p57,
Guardian p24, Telegraph b1, FT p1/6, Morning Star p6).
Economy worse under the
Con-Dems – Business secretary Vince Cable last night
admitted the danger of a double dip and said that Britain’s economy
was in a worse state than when Labour was in power. The news came
as the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee reported that
the panel voted unanimously for quantitative easing over concerns
at the state of the flatlining economy (Mail p19, Times p48, Indie p60, Guardian p2/26, Telegraph p5/b1, FT p3).
NHS reforms risking patient-GP
relationship – The Guardian (p5) reports that the
government’s NHS shake up looks likely to wreck patient
relationships with GPs as visits to the doctor become focused on
rationing care rather than delivering service as GPs struggle to
meet financial targets.
Blood service sell off
stemmed – Unite yesterday welcomed a victory for common
sense after the government backtracked on plans to privatise the
NHS Blood Service (Morning Star p4 Unite
release).
Gove meets teachers over
pensions – The Sun
(p2) reports that the education secretary Michael Gove has secretly
met with teaching unions to try to get them to opt out of next
month’s planned strike, one union source is quoted saying:
“Not much came out of the
meeting.”
Warning on public sector job
cuts – An analysis from PWC says that public sector job
losses have been larger and faster than expected and are
likely to exceed substantially the Office for Budget
Responsibility’s forecasts of 400,000. PWC estimates as many as
600,000 jobs may be lost and that the loss of 111,000 jobs in the
last quarter was only offset by 41,000 gains in the private sector
leaving a 70,000 shortfall and fears for the recovery (Times p48-49, Telegraph b4, FT p4).
Aviva axes jobs – More than
1,000 jobs to go at insurance giant Aviva’s UK and Irish
operations. Unite regional officer, Daryl Williams, said:
“News that Aviva is planning to shed over 1,200 jobs is
devastating for our members and the Aviva workforce, who are
continuing to live under constant uncertainty about their
future.” (Sun
p49, Express p64, Mail p78, Guardian p24, Telegraph b4, FT p18, Unite
release)
Argos slump
– Catalogue chain sees a 94 per cent slump in profits, making just
£3.4 million over the six months to 27 August on sales of £1.67
billion. Chief executive Terry Duddy says the squeeze on low income
families has led to the collapse in trade, although his position
remains under pressure (Mirror p62, Sun p49, Express p64, Mail p78, Times p47, Indie p58, Guardian p25, Telegraph b3, FT p18).
Heat or eat – And quite a few
of the papers report on a damning report into energy pricing in the
UK which says that soaring energy prices are killing 2,700 people
every year and an increasing number are facing the choice of
whether to heat their homes or eat. While politicians trade insults
over who is to blame, energy prices keep rising (Mirror p8-9, Sun p22-23, Express p1, Mail p2, Telegraph p1, Morning Star p2).
Clean coal plan scrapped
– A £1 billion project to generate energy using ‘clean coal’
was scrapped yesterday as the government cancelled the planned
construction of a coal fired power station in Fife, so much for
going green (Sun p15,
Mail p79, Times p53, Indie p2, Guardian p25, Telegraph b1, FT p1).
Construction ballot looming –
Construction workers disrupted work at Balfour Beatty’s Blackfriars
site yesterday as moves towards a ballot over changes to pay and
terms and conditions continue (Morning Star p5, Unite
release).
High fuel prices hit American
Airlines - American Airlines reports a larger than
expected quarterly loss having been hit by fuel charges and
currency fluctuations (FT
p20).
BAA to sell Edinburgh – Group
agrees to sell Edinburgh airport for estimated £600 million but
will press ahead with legal challenge over being forced to also
sell Stansted (Mirror p62,
Sun p49, Express p64, Mail p78, Times p53, Indie p58, Telegraph b4, FT p19, Morning Star p5)
BAE rejigs sales – The
Mail (p81) reports that
the changes in the global defence industry mean that bae – the
world’s second largest defence company by sales – is to rejig its
business operations grouping business into simpler UK and US
categories. Arguing this makes it easier to ‘improve disclosure’ it
will also make it harder for analysts – and competitors – to assess
underperforming areas.
Berlin slashes defence orders
– And finally as the rumours that Libya’s colonel Gadaffi has now
been captured in Sirte are reported the FT (p1) has bad news for defence firm EADS
after the German government signalled that it plans to slash orders
for fighter jets and helicopters as it reduces its armed forced by
up to a fifth as part of an austerity drive.
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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